If You Had Bought Luna Innovations (NASDAQ:LUNA) Shares Five Years Ago You'd Have Earned 554% Returns
For many, the main point of investing in the stock market is to achieve spectacular returns. While not every stock performs well, when investors win, they can win big. To wit, the Luna Innovations Incorporated (NASDAQ:LUNA) share price has soared 554% over five years. If that doesn't get you thinking about long term investing, we don't know what will. On top of that, the share price is up 25% in about a quarter. But this move may well have been assisted by the reasonably buoyant market (up 11% in 90 days).
We love happy stories like this one. The company should be really proud of that performance!
See our latest analysis for Luna Innovations
In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.
During the last half decade, Luna Innovations became profitable. Sometimes, the start of profitability is a major inflection point that can signal fast earnings growth to come, which in turn justifies very strong share price gains.
You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).
It is of course excellent to see how Luna Innovations has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.
A Different Perspective
Luna Innovations shareholders are up 19% for the year. But that was short of the market average. On the bright side, the longer term returns (running at about 46% a year, over half a decade) look better. It may well be that this is a business worth popping on the watching, given the continuing positive reception, over time, from the market. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Luna Innovations that you should be aware of before investing here.
If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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